China has weaknesses, says Canada coach

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 03, 2003

China has weaknesses, says Canada coach

Canadian women's soccer team coach Even Pellerud said here on Wednesday that they will take advantage of China's "weaknesses" in Thursday's World Cup quarter-final at Portland's PGE Park.

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Canadian women's soccer team coach Even Pellerud said here on Wednesday that they will take advantage of China's "weaknesses" in Thursday's World Cup quarter-final at Portland's PGE Park.

"They have scored only three goals," the former World Cup winning coach said. "They don't score a lot. And they do make mistakes with the ball, giving it away sometimes in high risk areas. So we will have to take advantage of that."

But Pellerud, who led Norway to 1995 World Cup title, also warned his players that they must be prepared to play a tough game because he knows the team a lot and is also an admirer of the Steel Roses.

"China is a wonderful, wonderful team to watch," Pellerud said." People who love soccer enjoy watching them. I know I do. The Chinese pass the ball. And that's fine for the spectators. But if you're on the field and you stand around and admire them, I can almost guarantee that you will be behind 4-0 after 50 minutes.

"And by then it will be too late."

He said that Canada, the youngest team left in the World Cup with an average age of 23, will play a team with totally different playing style.

"The two sides have different philosophies, different traditions. As different as right from left," he said.

But Canada striker Christine was confident that they can cause China a lot of problems.

"They're a pass-oriented team, but that's nothing new to us," Latham said. "It won't frustrate us. We understand that if we chase them all over the field we're going to find ourselves in trouble. We play good team defence.

"We have to use our size and strength advantages to set our own agenda, dictate the tempo and the flow of the game. We have to go hard into tackles and win the 1-on-1 balls.

"If we play our style and not worry so much about theirs, we'llbe fine. We feel good about ourselves, about our chances."

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